MINE digital magazine: issue 51

In this issue: The Philippines shutting down mining, Namibia’s growth, tin excavation in the DRC, MIT’s smelting discovery, Hexagon increases driver safety, inside the first Hackathon event, and more.

The Philippines has committed to wide-scale, nationwide mine closures, including some large-scale operations, due to environmental and public health concerns. We explore what the review actually discovered about the country’s industry, and what such extensive measures could achieve.

Around the regions, Namibia is heavily investing in accessing its vast mineral resource wealth, Alphamin attempts to tap the world’s largest tin deposits in the highly challenging DRC, and Largo Resources discusses the green energy applications of rare metal vanadium.

Meanwhile in technology, we hear about MIT’s accidental discovery of a new method of smelting antimony using electricity, Hexagon’s latest vehicle intervention tool for mining machines, and the director of Unearthed to find out about the specialist hackathon event designed to create modern mining solutions.

In this issue

Namibia Digs Deep for Growth
Namibia is heavily investing in its extensive mineral deposits including diamonds, uranium, gold, copper, lead, zinc and other base metals. We caught up with Namibia’s Mining Minister find out more.Read the article

Philippines Down Tools on Mining
The Philippines Government announced wide-scale mine closures in September, following a nationwide environmental review. We see what the review exposed to prompt such a comprehensive measure.Read the article

Building an Empire of Tin
Alphamin Resources CEO Boris Kamstra discusses establishing tin mining infrastructure at the Bisie Tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and what goes into establishing a new operation in such a difficult.Read the article

Hacking the Industry
Software developers, data scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs gathered in San Francisco in September for the industry’s first ever hackathon, sponsored by Caterpillar and Unearthed. We explore what the teams came up with.Read the article

MIT’s Accidental Antimony Discovery
A team of MIT researchers stumbled upon a new method of smelting the metal antimony using electricity rather than heat. We find out how the process works and the effect on the market.Read the article

Future Driver and Vehicle Intervention
Hexagon mining recently unveiled its new Vehicle Intervention System, which adds a powerful layer of protection to the already popular Collision Avoidance System. We catch up with Hexagon to hear about the life-saving tool.Read the article

Next issue preview

In the first issue of the new year, we focus on finance as while raising capital continues to be an issue in the mining industry, falling about 10% year on year, we ask specialists if 2017 be any different. And following a recent PwC report, we explore if the market capitalisation of Canada’s top 100 junior miners, which jumped 138% to C$11.4bn in the twelve months, is a sign or a blip.

Also, as many Western sanctions on Iran have been lifted, we hear how this will support Iran’s commodities development.

Plus, Caterpillar chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman speaks about his tenure and what we can expect from the company in future, we find out more about GE’s new Digital Mine suite, hear from the International Council on Mining and Metals about new industry guidance on how miners can support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Digital magazine FAQs

You can read MINE for free on the iPad. Download our app from the App Store to read the latest issue and browse the back issues in our archive.

You can also continue to read the desktop version for free on our web viewer. (Browser compatibility: The web viewer works in the latest two version of Chrome, Firefox and Safari, as well as in Internet Explorer 9 and 10. Some features may not be compatible with older browser versions).